"only 1 day 9 hours 22 minutes 39 seconds till our wedding.."

I've just been to the wedding website of stepdaughter Alex, she has one of those running time boards that's been counting down till the big day. There was something very real about seeing this short time left. I wrote her a few days ago when I realized there were only a few days left and tried to put into words how proud I was of her and how excited and happy I am for her. She is a beautiful, smart, kind, funny, orderly, strong, intelligent and just plain fun person to know and love. I think in my letter to her I said "woooo! It's gonna be a great party!" It probably might have said a little more, but I don't know that I've ever been able to tell her how much she means to me, how proud I am to call her "family" and as any parent, how much I look forward to living vicariously through her as she makes new choices and follows new roads because of the inherent trust I have in her judgement and her enthusiasm.

These thoughts were mirrored as closely by another person, my mom, and my deepest lament is that she can't be here to celebrate this day with us. Still, it's going to be one of the biggest days in a lot of our lives, I know mom will be right there with me (as she was when she helped me find a perfect dress, and sent her sister to help me find the perfect shoes, too!) Now, if I can only appeal to her to help me overcome this head cold that I feel coming on….or is that just stress and nerves?! I wonder how Alex is feeling right about now?

Happy Wedding, Alex! I love you!

"only 1 day, 9 hours, 7 minutes, 6 seconds till our wedding"